ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
WASHINGTON, December 17, 1863.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty for the final adjustment of the claims of the Hudsons Bay and Pugets Sound Agricultural Companies, signed in this city on the 1st day of July last (1863).
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
DECEMBER 17, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Herewith I lay before you a letter addressed to myself by a committee of gentlemen representing the freedmen's aid societies in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. The subject of the letter, as indicated above, is one of great magnitude and importance, and one which these gentlemen, of known ability and high character, seem to have considered with great attention and care. Not having the time to form a mature judgment of my own as to whether the plan they suggest is the best, I submit the whole subject to Congress, deeming that their attention thereto is almost imperatively demanded.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
WASHINGTON, December 22, 1863.